Age of Conquest

Age of Conquest is our slot of the month for June. This fantasy-based five-reeler from Microgaming and Neon Valley Studios is going down a treat with players right now thanks to a solid core game as well as the inclusion of extra features such as stacked wilds and 3 free spin/wild reel combos. So how does it look?

Theme/Visuals

As far as theme goes, Age of Conquest borrows heavily from Game of Thrones – this won’t be to everybody’s taste considering the mind-numbing final season. In fact, many of us would sooner forget about HBO’s hit fantasy-drama. Anyway, we digress. AOC boasts sumptuous visuals and super-smooth reel animations. Play is accompanied by a decent orchestral score which has been described as ‘epic’ by other reviewers, although we wouldn’t go quite that far.

The reels are framed in a gold rendering of fortress walls and are set against a castle background with purple skies. They’re decorated with an assortment of well-drawn symbols that probably wouldn’t look out of place in the fictional environs of Westeros or Essos.

As well as gilded card symbols (yawn), they include a rather sinister-looking princess, a sword-wielding prince, a throne and a mystical lantern. Visually, then, AOC has got ‘big-budget’ written all over it. However, we should point out though that the prince and princess symbols have been pinched directly from Microgaming’s other fantasy-themed slot, Forbidden Throne.

How to Play Age of Conquest

The 5 x 3 interface is fairly intuitive and shouldn’t present too many problems for even the most inexperienced of players. The base game requires you to land three or more of the same symbols on one of the 20 pay-lines. In addition to the low value card icons are four mid-value symbols: a potion, sword, eagle and sword.

The prince, elven knight and princess are more valuable, with the latter two able to stack a full reel. Out of these, the prince is the most lucrative, multiplying stakes by 15 when five appear on a pay-line. Should you land the princess across a pay-line, your stake will by boosted 10-fold.

The wild, which replaces all other symbols, can pay as much as 50x times when five appear in combination. Unfortunately the scatter, represented by a throne, is quite underwhelming in terms of value, only paying out 2x the total bet when it appears on reels 1, 3 or 5. But you also gain entry to the free spins bonus game so that’s something.

Wild Reels Feature

Installed above each reel is a meter that comprises two empty diamond-shaped spaces. These illuminate when a diamond appears on the reel below. Once both are lit up, the Wild Reels feature is unlocked and the entire reel becomes wild for the next two spins. Wilds pay 2, 10 or 50 when 3, 4 or 5 land on a pay-line respectively.

Free Spins Bonus Game

As mentioned, the free spins feature is activated when the golden throne turns up on reels 1, 3 and 5 on the same spin. You’ll then be presented with three free spin and wild reel combo options: 25 free spins with 1 wild reel, 8 free spins with 2 wild reels and 2 free spins with 3 wild reels. During the round, wild reels can appear randomly. Should you land another 3 throne scatters on reels 1, 3 and 5, the spins feature is re-triggered.

Conclusions

Age of Conquest certainly looks great, even if the developers borrowed the main character symbols from Forbidden Throne. The diamond meter serves as a welcome distraction, triggering wild reels quite regularly. It’s also possible to generate some decent returns via the free spins bonus game. However, the chance to win just 1000x your stake per spin isn’t going to appeal to hardcore slot gamers, even if it can be achieved on consecutive spins. This is why our recommendation is aimed squarely at casual players or those of you looking for something to play between bingo games.

RTP: 96.14 (may be adjusted by operator), Minimum Bet: 0.2